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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26719066">Locks and Sabotage</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaultOfMelkurMistress/pseuds/VaultOfMelkurMistress'>VaultOfMelkurMistress</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vault Stories [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Missy is there by her sole choice, The Doctor freezes her out, The Vault has never been locked, it exploded in fluff, then there's cuddling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:01:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,489</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26719066</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaultOfMelkurMistress/pseuds/VaultOfMelkurMistress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set over one 24 hours in the vault. From the prompt: In the whole 70 years Missy spends on Earth with 12, the vault is never actually locked. They never share this with anyone.</p><p>Missy is cold and gives up, sneaking upstairs to the Doctor. He wishes she would just stay with him. The isolation in this story is her choice and he hates it. But it’s sweet and happy and with mutual love because I desperately need that. Does the Doctor confuse Nardole with big words and flashing lights? Yes he does. Missy laughs and Nardole thinks she’s plotting to kill him. Ends in so much fluff.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Twelfth Doctor/Missy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vault Stories [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944550</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Twissy Stories</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Locks and Sabotage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineternity/gifts">ineternity</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I meant this to be a  comedy but then Missy cried and my heart had to wrap her in my fluff. Please send prompts for this series - vault prompts welcomed, it's doing me a lot of good. &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“She’s up to something,” Nardole said, watching with great scrutiny as the Doctor made alterations to the vault locking mechanism. “She smiled at me and said ‘Hi Nardy,’ <em> see </em>, very suspicious. Probably plotting my murder.”</p><p>“Missy being nice is a good thing Nardole! Let’s encourage her - if we treat her with suspicion she won’t see the benefit of being nice,” the Doctor said as he calmly continued working on the door. “Just adjust the thermal shielding here…. and that will be enough reinforcement for today.”</p><p>“When she smiles, multiple evil plots are going on inside her head,” he said before freezing and abruptly letting out a squeak, knocking the Doctor’s hand from the controls and grabbing a dial, turning it fast. “Doesn’t this increase the temporal dynamics of the spatial lock? So turning it that high would cause an explosion?”</p><p>“Ah, you’ve been paying attention again Nardole, paying attention is... a good thing. Yes it does that too...but you see if I press the yellow button, then the spatial dynamics remain stable. Can you tell me why?”</p><p>“The spatial dynamics remain stable…” Nardole frowned. “Because the time converter coils have to turn twice to reset the central tube?”</p><p>“Well done Nardole!” the Doctor said smiling. “I will buy more gold stickers!”</p><p>“Please do,” Nardole said, grumbling. “You gave them all to Missy last time, at once! She didn’t earn those and she stuck them all over her clothes and declared herself the goodest Time Lady in the land. She doesn’t take this seriously!”</p><p>“Yes she does, it’s just her sense of humour Nardole. Humor is important!”</p><p>“They both paused at the sound of Missy giggling from the other side of the door.</p><p>“Humour Nardole! It’s a positive thing,” the Doctor said, pretending he couldn’t hear her.</p><p>“She’s laughing at me right now!”</p><p>“Don't be so paranoid! Now, we’ve done security checks, so how about a night off?”</p><p>“Well, I suppose so - but I’m not going to Glasgow for biscuits again - they sell them in the corner shop, and don’t think I haven’t found that out!”</p><p>The Doctor tried not to laugh as he followed Nardole out, but broke into a smile as the upbeat sound of Missy’s piano accompanied him.</p>
<hr/><p>The afternoon came and Missy’s source of entertainment - in the shape of an egg, was starting to look like he was actually having the night off. It was nice not to be bothered constantly by an accusing, suspicious egg, but it was only fun when the Doctor was there. It was just boring if she was on her own and the Doctor hadn’t been in since breakfast. </p><p>
  <em> Breakfast. </em>
</p><p>She was bored, and cold. </p><p>Missy glared a the portable heater as she gave up rapidly circling the room and climbed straight into bed not taking off her fluffy purple dressing gown and thick matching socks, the duvet pulled tight around her but still she let out a cry of frustration and dismay, too cold to move a muscle now she was encased in blankets. She glared at the small chest of drawers where the psychic paper sat, too cold to move from the little warmth she had created. </p><p>She instead focused, making her mind calm, open, telepathic waves reaching out, and she was rewarded quickly by the soft hum of another mind.</p><p>‘Doctor, I need you urgently.’’</p><p>‘What for? Are you ok Missy?’</p><p>‘No, I’m cold. Cuddle me.’</p><p>‘I’m in a lecture hall with 300 students, and it’s snowing outside, I can’t cuddle. I’ll be by later.’</p><p>‘Stop gloating about being able to go outside, it’s unbecoming of you.’</p><p>‘I’m not gloating, why would I gloat? That doesn’t make the slightest shred of sense. I am explaining why it’s so cold.’</p><p>‘It’s cold dear, because you did not install anything remotely adequate in the way of heating. Are you trying to freeze me out? THAT historically makes me start fires. I have had three baths to get warm and it’s taking a lot of self restraint to remain here. You don’t understand how cold I am.”</p><p>“I  know and we both know the solution to that. I will bring mexican tonight, and extra blankets, and maybe we can talk about it again, try to be open to it. I have to focus on my lecture right now, I've just written ‘Missy’ on the screen. 300 students just saw me write: the possibility of time travel actually depends on Missy, instead of the possibility of time travel actually depends on concepts of dimensional structure.”</p><p>“Comparing me to concepts of dimensional structure honey? You are <em>such</em> a flirt!”</p><p>Missy giggled and rolled over in bed, grabbing the TV remote as she pulled her duvet over her head into a makeshift fort. </p>
<hr/><p>Night fell, or so she assumed. Taking the clock apart to build an amusing gadget to scare Nardole was worth it. Well, at the time. Three weeks later when the Doctor finally realised that she was getting ready for bed at breakfast time and he had said he was not replacing the clock as fast this time  -admittedly it was her fourth in two months, she <em> did </em> have some regrets. Still, the egg was an excellent screamer. </p><p>Missy sighed as she looked at her two options - it was a very important decision but time was of the essence now and she knew she had to make a choice. Sighing, she reached for her coat, then shook her head, grabbing a fluffy purple dressing gown instead. It would take far too long to dress and so she slipped it straight on and tied the sash in a bow to her side, her thick purple socks slipping into highly impractical bunny slippers. </p><p>She reached up, taking a multitude of hair pins from her head until finally, her hair fell free to her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it, attempting to tame it briefly and then decided that would do - a hint of wildness from a woman dressed in bed attire at whatever time of day it happened to be would be a good thing. She hoped it was the middle of the day - presenting with a smidge of insanity would keep annoying humans away from her. </p><p>She walked to the vault doors and sighed, sliding open a panel and turning a simple handle. </p><p>“The things you push me to Doctor,” she said with a sigh, as she left the vault, pulling the very unlocked door closed behind her. </p><p>She walked quickly toward the university building, trudging over snow that only made her slippers damp and cold and her choice of not changing into her daytime clothes, quite regrettable. She moved quickly, the cold night air not welcomed and the silence merely indicating that it was the early hours of the morning, still dark, no students around campus. </p><p>Good, less squishable temptation. </p><p>She hugged herself, rubbing her arms to ward off the cold as soon as she got inside. It took some working out - the Doctor just had to go and be all mysterious and not list his name on the map of offices like all the other staff did. Eventually she worked out which part of the building had the largest unmarked area on the map and headed up, making her way straight to the Doctor’s office. He had never stated explicitly, but she assumed his TARDIS would be there - he did have a fondness for that old thing but always kept it far too close. One day she mused, she might tell him where her’s was parked, but no need, it was safe and secure and if anyone did break in she would eventually find them automatically shrunk and lying quite dead and 5 inches tall on her console room floor. </p><p>She was the best at home security. </p><p>That’s what bothered her about her current living arrangements at times. The Doctor didn’t know enough - he spent more time bluffing Nardole that she was powerless and locked in there than he actually did ensuring her safety. Sure security controls that she operated herself were great, but he needed to put some external controls in - just in case. She trusted him, no one else would she ever hand a lock and a key too, but the idiot wanted her to hold her own key all the time. Purely for her own sense of security he had said - you have to be able to lock your own front door. </p><p>But in reality when she was bored she could tap into the structure of the vault so easily, and if she could create pathways out - not that she used them, because she really was trying to be good, it wasn’t that difficult to create pathways <em> in </em> too. </p><p>That man just never thought anything through. </p><p>She knew exactly where to go - Time Lord instinct drew her to him the closer she got and in moments she was in his office, her running over the couch as she remembered the last time she had been there - crying as he put his arm around her. He had picked her up at the vault door because her compromise was that it felt less likely leaving if his TARDIS took her to his office. He had given her such a worried look, such abject concern as she simply waited, not touching anything. He had visibly relaxed when she cast Nardole an evil glare.</p><p>A quick glance around the room showed nothing particularly warm that she could drape around herself and so she wasted no more time and placed her palm flat on the blue wood of the door and waited, sending a telepathic request to the Doctor’s TARDIS. She felt it appropriate - given her previous treatment of her that she not break in. </p><p>She smiled as the doors opened of their own accord and the warm glow of dimmed lights greeted her. Stepping inside she ran her hand lightly over the console as she walked past - showing herself to be no threat, the past was the past. </p><p>It only took three doors before she found the Doctor’s bedroom - he was asleep, lights off, a very dark room. It had been difficult to traverse it, clutter and disorder even in the one room that she thought should really be much more ordered and tranquil. Still, she loved him, so she would be nice and wait until morning to tease him about the mess. </p><p>She was the picture of stealth as she climbed into bed, kicking off her damp slippers, and tossing aside her dressing gown along the way. She laid down in front of him, shuffling until her back was against his chest and carefully taking hold of his arm and placing it around her. She pulled up the covers and signed, falling asleep instantly.</p><p>He roused much later, the bedroom light at a brighter level, and a glow from the edges of drawn curtains, hiding a window to a simulated view. He instinctively tightened his arm around her and pulled her closed to him, only becoming aware that he wasn't alone as his hand found hers. He sighed, placing a kiss on her head which was covered by a tangled mess of dark hair. </p><p>“Missy,” he said, relief and warmth in his voice. “This is a nice surprise. I missed you.”</p><p>“I missed you to, little bit,” she said, snuggling back against him. “I was cold.”</p><p>“I know, I don't want you to be but I don’t want you to get….too comfortable down there. You’re down there for months at time lately, I’m worried about you.”</p><p>“I will seek revenge on you for freezing me. Besides.....I need to be there honey,” she said, staring straight ahead of her and refusing to make eye contact.</p><p>“You needed that at he start, but not for long and not now. I wish you would stay up here with me, I don’t want you shutting yourself away like that.”</p><p>“And how would you explain that to the egg Doctor?”</p><p>“I’ll just tell him you’re helping me with TARDIS maintenance, he will object, strongly, and then accept it.”</p><p>“Thought about this have you?” she said, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“Maybe a bit,” he said, brushing her hair back until he could find her cheek and place a kiss. “Stay today, no pressure. You know I respect it when you want to go in there but Missy, it was to keep other people safe from you and you from whatever might go after you. You can take care of yourself in a TARDIS, and with...me.”</p><p>“You trust me not to kill everyone i sight if I get bored?”</p><p>“Yes, I do,” he said firmly. </p><p>“I don’t,” she whispered. “It scares me.”</p><p>“I won’t let you handle anything alone, you have my word,” he said, gently tugging at her shoulder until she turned, moving to her other side and looking into his eyes. </p><p>His hearts hurt at the tears in her eyes and he placed a kiss on her forehead and studied her carefully. </p><p>“What if I promised? If you ventured into homicidal maniac territory, then I’ll put you in there and get a working lock for the door? You won’t, you’ve changed Missy, even if it scares you - you have.”</p><p>“I need you to help me,” she said, her voice shaking as she cried. </p><p>“I <em>am</em> helping Missy,” he said. “Not letting you shut yourself away <em>is</em> helping. You’ve come up to me and I’m very happy about that -  but why not stay here?”</p><p>“I could go there while you’re wowing your humans in the lecture hall - keeps up appearances for the egg?”</p><p>“Ok, if it's what you need to do, but not every day - it's not good for you.”</p><p>“This is though,” she said, smiling through her tears. “Tell me though Doctor, how did you sabotage the heating system down there?”</p><p>“I won't reveal my techniques in case I need them again,” he said, with a sad smile. “But I’m glad you came out by yourself.”</p><p>“I <em>am</em> scared Doctor,” she said, absolute honesty in her eyes. “I’m scared of what I’m capable of.”</p><p>“That alone is wonderful progress Missy. I’m proud of you and you should be too.”</p><p>“Really?” she said, hope shining in her eyes.</p><p>“Of course I am,” he said with a smile, until a cluttering noise broke the moment.</p><p>They both froze.</p><p>“I think that…”</p><p>“Omelette for breakfast?” she asked hopefully. </p><p>“I’ll never hear the end of it from him. Stay here, don't make a sound,” he said, placing a quick kiss on her lips before jumping out of bed and quickly dressing. </p><p>“Want me to hide under the bed honey?” she called out, giggling at his grimace a he turned and shushed her. </p><p>She smiled as her hand moved to her lips, her fingers lightly touching as she focuses on the feel of his lips against hers and sent a wave of love and affection to him.</p><p> </p>
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